TRANSLATIONS.

HYMNS OF HOMER.

HYMN TO MERCURY.

I.

SING, Muse, the son of Maia and of Jove,
The Herald-child, king of Arcadia

And all its pastoral hills, whom in sweet love
Having been interwoven, modest May
Bore Heaven's dread Supreme-an antique grove
Shadowed the cavern where the lovers lay
In the deep night, unseen by gods or men,
And white-armed Juno slumbered sweetly then.

II.

Now, when the joy of Jove had its fulfilling,
And Heaven's tenth moon chronicled her relief,
She gave to light a babe all babes excelling,
A schemer subtle beyond all belief';

A shepherd of thin dreams, a cow-stealing,

A night-watching, and door-waylaying thief, Who 'mongst the gods was soon about to thieve, And other glorious actions to achieve.

III.

The babe was born at the first

peep of day;

He began playing on the lyre at noon,

And the same evening did he steal away Apollo's herds;-the fourth day of the moon, On which him bore the venerable May,

From her immortal limbs he leaped full soon, Nor long could in the sacred cradle keep, But out to seek Apollo's herds would creep.

IV.

Out of the lofty cavern wandering

He found a tortoise, and cried out-"A treasure!" (For Mercury first made the tortoise sing)

The beast before the portal at his leisure The flowery herbage was depasturing,

Moving his feet in a deliberate measure Over the turf. Jove's profitable son Eyeing him laughed, and laughing thus begun :

V.

"A useful godsend are you to me now, King of the dance, companion of the feast, Lovely in all your nature! Welcome, you Excellent plaything! Where, sweet mountain beast,

Got you that speckled shell? Thus much I know, You must come home with me and be my guest; You will give joy to me, and I will do

All that is in my power to honour you.

VI.

"Better to be at home than out of door;

So come with me, and though it has been said

That you alive defend from magic power,

I know you will sing sweetly when you're dead." Thus having spoken, the quaint infant bore,

Lifting it from the grass on which it fed,

And grasping it in his delighted hold,
His treasured prize into the cavern old.

VII.

Then scooping with a chisel of gray steel,
He bored the life and soul out of the beast-
Not swifter a swift thought of woe or weal

Darts through the tumult of a human breast Which thronging cares annoy-not swifter wheel The flashes of its torture and unrest

Out of the dizzy eyes-than Maia's son
All that he did devise hath featly done.

VIII.

And through the tortoise's hard strong skin
At
proper distances small holes he made,
And fastened the cut stems of reeds within,

And with a piece of leather overlaid
The open space and fixed the cubits in,
Fitting the bridge to both, and stretched o'er all
Symphonious chords of sheep-gut rhythmical.

IX.

When he had wrought the lovely instrument, He tried the chords, and made division meet Preluding with the plectrum, and there went Up from beneath his hand a tumult sweet